Math and the Chinese Room. Technical Report 2006-08

Publication

Publication

We live in a society and culture that has learned to fear mathematics. Having a
mathematical brain is considered an oddity and it is assumed that anyone who
understands math must be really smart. Yet, the skills needed to demonstrate awe-inspiring
mathematical ability are quite limited. Despite the many years of required education a large swath of the population
lives without proper mathematical comprehension. This paper will introduce the Chinese Room by presenting Searle’s arguments and
creating a scenario for the reader to ponder. Then, some standard information about
math education will be explored both with approaches that rely on the learning
processes of the Chinese Room and others that contradict it. This intersection between
Searle’s Chinese Room and math education illustrates problems with traditional
approaches to math education and challenges some of Searle’s conclusions regarding
the Chinese Room.